DISCLAIMER: Relatively standard stuff. Existing characters are properties of the people who made them up or currently own them. Mitsuki, and several other characters are mine, and so's the story, hence ownership and copyright of them belongs to me.

Justice

By

Raymond Cooper

Beginning of the End

"Excuse me," a quiet, hesitant voice asked from the front door to the dorm. "Is this the Ai Sou?"

Setsuna and the other senshi turned to see a girl standing in the doorway to the dorm's front hall. She seemed as small and uncertain as her voice sounded, and as Makoto moved forward to speak with her, Chao grabbed her arm and gave her a warning shake of her head. Setsuna stepped closer, careful not to get too close. She had only seen Misa Kakizaki fleetingly in the future, but she had seen the meltdown the minor senshi had experienced and the flaying and dissection of Valkyries.

Behind them, drawn towards Misa as if she was a magnet, Luna and Artemis entered the room, and glanced at one another.

"This is the Ai Sou," Setsuna replied, while Makoto frowned at Chao and pulled her arm away.

"What are you doing?" she asked quietly, before turning back to the new arrival. "This is the Ai Sou," she repeated. "Although this is a private dorm and at this time we're not taking any new applicants."

"Oh," Misa said, her eyes drifting down and away. She started to turn before Setsuna spoke again.

"But you're welcome to stay. I'm sure there's another room somewhere here."

Hotaru's eyes turned to Setsuna now with laser-like intensity in her eyes. Luna swatted her leg, and she glanced down at the knowing, even gaze from the cat, then she looked up again at Makoto and coughed emphatically. Makoto looked over and saw the assembled cats and their laser-like gaze and finally nodded. "Yes. Yes, we do have another room. I'm so sorry for the confusion."

"I was told to come here," Misa said anxiously. "I was told the people here could help me."

"Could this be the day, Luna?" Artemis asked quietly from behind the group.

Luna looked pensive. "Honestly, I thought Ranma would be the first of the minor senshi to be active. If I'd known the trouble he'd cause, I never would have provided him with a transformation wand."

"You couldn't have known," Artemis replied. "But Usagi is talking about creating Crystal Tokyo now instead of in a thousand years. Shouldn't that have some effect on how things progress?"

"But she can't possibly succeed. The future says she can't," Luna answered as the girls brought Misa into the dorm's lounge. The girl still seemed to be frightened and flinched away when anyone tried to touch her. Rei frowned.

"Haven't I seen you somewhere before?" she asked, and Misa dropped her head down low, sniffing quietly.

"But assuming she does," Artemis continued, frowning. "Wouldn't that mean that the others, all the minor senshi, wouldn't they all start to awaken as well?"

Luna considered this for a while, but had no immediate answer. She flicked her tail in annoyance and frustration. "Really now. Perhaps they already are. Perhaps we'll find more of them. The general troops and population of the Moon Kingdom. Perhaps..."

Artemis said nothing for the moment, flicking his eyes from Luna to Misa.

"I – I was told to come here," Misa repeated, trying not to cry. "Was told people could help me. Save me from me."

"What do you mean?" Makoto asked.

Chao stepped back, the miclonised Zentraedi putting a further distance between the two. "We were too late to stop the end of the Battle Royale show. I'm sorry."

Misa continued to stare at the floor. Makoto blinked in realisation. "Oh! You're one of the contestants from Battle Royale?"

"Ranma told you to come here," Hotaru breathed.

"If you mean a red-headed girl in a grey skirt, then yes," Misa replied, nodding her head. "I think so. She looked different at Mahora."

"Why did Ranma tell you to come here?" Minako asked, folding her arms and taking on a suspicious glare. This reeked of a trap, and if Ranma had something to do with this girl coming here then there was something very wrong that was about to happen. The fact Setsuna and this new time traveller companion of hers were both keeping their distance was also a factor in her thinking. Subconsciously, Minako put herself as a barrier between the senshi and a possible threat.

"She, she said you could help me."

Minako snorted. "Save you from yourself, you said. What do you mean? Why did he tell you to come here?"

"I don't – I talked to a girl, I –"

Curious doll eyes appeared from around the side of the sofa.

"I think you've been sent here to kill us."

"No, I –"

"I think you're a monster in disguise. Something sent here to explode and kill us all."

"Sailor Venus," Chao began, but Minako continued on regardless, pressing the attack and moving in closer. She couldn't see how this girl could be a threat.

"Eva said I'm a –"

"Who is this Eva? Ranma sent you here, so who else knows we're here? Who -"

Minako's voice cut off as part of her fringe and hair across the top of her head separated from her scalp without warning and dropped to the ground. At the same time, the ceiling violently shuddered directly opposite Minako as something sliced into it. She froze, having felt something pass overhead but unsure what had just happened. Misa looked as if she was about to pass out.

Now Chao stepped forward again, slowly, putting her hands up in a non-threatening manner to Misa, staring at her eyes to take her attention. "Calm down, Misa. Just calm down. You said Evangeline told you that you were a Diclonius, right?"

"You know Eva?" Plaster fell as whatever had smacked into the ceiling was retracted. No one noticed, the room almost completely still and silent.

Chao nodded, moving closer. Setsuna took her queues from the Meltrandi senshi, stepping towards her other side. "Yes, Eva is known to my family. One of my ancestors from nine hundred years ago. My time, obviously. But Eva is still around in my time."

"In your time?"

"Yes. I come from a day a thousand years from now and I've come back to help you."

Misa glanced at the floor, the shock and fear in her eyes hidden for a moment. In that instant, Chao shot Setsuna a panicked glance – what am I going to do? – but Setsuna had no ideas. She shrugged in return, looking back to Misa as she lifted her eyes again.

"What do I do?"

"First of all," Chao reached out slowly to take Misa's shoulder, hoping against hope that her invisible vectors had retracted and weren't waving around uncontrollably, "we're going to go outside and sit down for a while. Setsuna is going to stay in here and explain the situation, and then we're going to go... relax." As she ushered Misa out, she shot Setsuna another panicked glance.

Once the two were gone from the room, the younger senshi present exploded with questions and noise. Minako, still standing immobile with half her scalp showing through her reverse Mohawk, finally unclenched her fists. "What. The. Hell. Was. That."

"There is much I do not know myself yet," Setsuna said, "but I think there is a story you must hear."

Natsumi Otohime, if she was still alive and conscious, was locked somewhere inside her head. Held against her will, brought back into the Master's fold, she was as much a prisoner as she was anything else. And now, Umiko stood with her back to her, clawed fingertips stained a deep, glistening red. Blood spatter around the command deck of the salvaged Dark Kingdom battleship told a story of violence and frenzy, lines of droplets and splashes of vivid colour covering monitors and consoles and wall plating and deck grills. Natsumi herself was cut, her cheeks sliced, chest and stomach torn, shoulders and arms also showing deep injuries.

Being a General, even a comatose one, she would heal from these. They would not kill her, but they did hurt, and made her less effective. Removing even more of her effectiveness, Natsumi's VR headset lay discarded to one side, smashed open and delicate electronics torn free. Without it and the controls within, the monster Baku could not operate the ship's systems.

She was cut off and alone.

Umiko considered. What else could she do? Natsumi Otohime had been part of the Master's plan to extract the life force from the seven million people they trapped in a simulated Tokyo. Once that ploy had failed and the people of Tokyo and the centre of the city was returned to the real world, Baku had no longer been needed, but had been left tied up to the ship's systems. When Umiko had the idea to create Battle Royale, she had used Baku's powers to construct the island Big Man used for the series. That hadn't been hard. But Umiko was sure Natsumi had moved against her during the filming of the show, and she was sure Natsumi had protected Ranma from being detected on the island as well. They were both in on this, they had to be. Ranma had some kind of proprietary interest in Natsumi, some kind of history with the young girl, but she couldn't understand it. There was no basis, unless something had happened in the time she had spent with Ranma and the senshi the year before.

No. The more Umiko thought of it, the more she realised Ranma's existence as a General was behind every failure they had experienced. Even now he was working against them. True, his plan to use the fictitious International Rescue organisation was netting them energy that wasn't immediately being rescued and siphoned off by the senshi, but he could be taking so much more.

Umiko knew he could fight Sailor Saturn to a standstill, and that was before he had elevated himself to the level of a General, so why didn't he simply defeat the senshi? Why didn't he take the fight to their hated enemy of eons and destroy them? The only reason she could see was that he still cared for them and was working with them to destroy Yoshihiro's forces from within. That had to be the reason behind International Rescue as well, she was sure.

A noise made Umiko turn just in time to see one of Ranma's Lieutenants enter the bridge. Sakaki stopped dead and looked around blankly when she saw the blood decorating the room, then froze her gaze on Umiko.

Before Sakaki could move or say anything, Umiko flickered and the Lieutenant felt a heavy blow to the side of her head. Enhanced strength saved her; even as a normal human she had been almost freakishly strong, and as a monster her strength had grown similarly. While the punch may have stove in the head of one of her friends, this merely threw her across the room and through a wall. She pulled herself to her feet silently, a determined set to her mouth and the same steady gaze locked on the General. Umiko flickered again, and while Sakaki blocked the first punch, she was unprepared and wide open for the kick that scythed in around her ribs.

This time she was knocked back through three walls before crashing out through an exterior bulkhead and bouncing off the wall of the cavern where the battleship rested. She dropped towards the ground, but Umiko was faster, flickering into existence in time to deliver another punishing blow. Sakaki got a punch in, followed by a second that was easily blocked and resulted in both fists being caught. Umiko flickered around, faster than the eye could clearly see, and the bones of Sakaki's forearms shattered into gravel. The Lieutenant's gasp of pain was short-lived, as Umiko flipped over and delivered a kick to Sakaki's stomach that flattened her into the cavern floor.

Something moved in the resulting crater, and rather than allowing Sakaki to recover and return another ineffectual blow, Umiko flickered into the crater and appeared, one of Sakaki's forearms in each hand. She gave the younger woman a savage smile before ripping Sakaki's left arm off.

Now Sakaki screamed, which doubled in intensity a moment later as her right arm joined the left on the ground behind Umiko.

There was a presence, and Umiko was aware Ayumu was there behind her. As she turned to see the girl frowning at her, two other of Ranma's Lieutenants flickered in and grabbed Sakaki. "Take her to Ranma," Ayumu said quietly. "And tell him."

"Shouldn't that be you?" Koyomi asked.

"No. Takino, make sure she goes."

"Right-o~" saluted the other monster, and the group of three monsters vanished, leaving Umiko alone with Ayumu. Neither noticed the crowd slowly growing.

"I'm going to enjoy this," Umiko snarled, working herself back up in preparation for the next fight. Her blood was already up; Umiko's teeth had twisted into fangs, with fur and scales vying for domination across her shoulders and neck.

"This isn't what the Master wants," Ayumu said, but Umiko cut her off.

"What would you know about what the Master wants?" she yelled back. "I am his right hand! I am his finest instrument! I wield his word!" Umiko stretched and rolled her shoulders as they doubled in width, along with her chest. Muscles in her legs felt like they were being freed from captivity as they bulked up. A twinge of pain and her ears jutted upwards. An illusion of a ripple of water crossed her vision and her eyes had grown slitted and yellow. It had been so long since she had allowed herself to feel the full strength of her power.

To her credit, Ayumu didn't blink. She had a determined expression on her face, looking angry, and yet at the same time completely unconcerned with Umiko's transformation.

"You should watch yourself!" Umiko bellowed.

Ayumu shook her head sadly. "I don't need to watch myself. But you should."

Without warning, Umiko leapt forward and pounded a massive fist into Ayumu's face. The smaller Lieutenant was caught off-guard and rocketed backwards, to be caught in a mighty paw and thrown at a cavern wall. Ayumu bounced off that and twisted, spinning to plant her feet on the ground. Umiko knew there was something about her that wasn't right, and wasn't about to let the younger woman get her bearings, pummelling her with a flurry of punches. The Lieutenant held her ground for a few moments, then fell to a knee while holding her forearms braced in a cross above her head.

Victory.

A hand caught Umiko's paw before she could deliver a final blow, halting her attack and swinging her around with the reversed force. Ranma.

Ranma frowned at her. "What are you doing with my people?"

On a roll, Umiko continued her motion and flicked her other hand up with claws extended. Had Ranma been a normal human, he would have been filleted. As it was, the front of his jacket was torn into slices, but her claws glanced off his skin – Umiko hadn't intended this to be a killing blow, oh no, he had to tell her what his plan was first, but it was enough for him to release his grip on her forearm and let Umiko move into a proper attack.

Four limbs came up as she pounced like a cat, but Ranma side-stepped and slapped her away. Good, he wasn't treating her seriously yet. Umiko could work with that. She spin on one heel and brought her other up, claws bursting from her feet as they raked at him. Sharp enough, with enough energy in them to graze Ranma's blocking arm. He frowned, but Umiko suspected not at the injury; indeed, he barely seemed to feel it. She pulled both arms back in warning, and hissed at him.

That was it; Ranma blanched, and with a flicker of motion both he and Ayumu had vanished.

It's time.

Umiko moved after them, various monsters leaving their assigned tasks and trailing in her wake – something was going on, something big.

But Ranma was gone. Umiko was patient, though. Like the cat she partially resembled, she would hunt the other General down, and dispose of him as she had Baku the first time around.

Ranma dropped back into the world far from Umiko in a cold sweat. She had been awfully cat-like. More so than he'd seen her in a long time, and even humanoid and out for his blood he had felt the stirrings of his own response to the threat before him. He'd had moments to get clear, had grabbed Ayumu and run. Now, hidden with the others arriving piecemeal, Ranma lowered Ayumu to the ground. "Are you okay?"

Ayumu nodded, her face one of concern. "I've never seen you run from a fight before," she said wonderingly.

"Sometimes, you gotta go while the going's good," Ranma evaded, recalling his father's first rule of martial arts. He looked to Takino, who stood over Sakaki's prone form. "Is she okay?" Takino shook her head mournfully. "Is she dead?" Ranma pressed. Again, Takino shook her head.

"But it probably won't be long," she said, subdued.

Ranma made a decision, and reached into a pocket to pull a piece of paper free. He handed it to Takino. "Take her to this place in Kanagawa. Tell them I said to help her. Tell them... tell them she likes cats."

Interesting stress, Ayumu noted. Interesting subdued shudder as well. She watched Takino take Sakaki and vanish, and Ranma turned to Koyomi. "Gather everyone. Tell them to watch out. I think Umiko's finally flipped."

Ayumu reached out with a surprisingly steady arm to take Ranma's wrist in her hand. "She had flipped a long time ago. This was always going to happen. This is what she did to Baku a long time ago."

Ranma shook his head then paused. "Natsumi? Where is she?"

Mihama spoke up from the nearest pipe entrance, where she kept an eye on any oncoming threats. "Sakaki said Umiko had gotten her." Her twin ponytails bounced in emphatic agreement, their voices adding to a low chorus of agreement through the small chamber.

"No..." Ranma stood, pointing to Mihama. "Look after Ayumu here. I've got to get Natsumi outta here." Ayumu refused to release Ranma's wrist, climbing to her feet after him and following the few steps he took forward. He glanced back.

"Take Mihama. You may need her."

Ranma's eyes narrowed at Ayumu's insistence. No matter, her cover was blown. After what she had just been through, she couldn't play the idiot anymore, any more than the others could. There was a time coming that Ranma had to understand what was happening, what was going on, but that time wasn't quite yet. As long as his troops were in danger, he would be distracted and wouldn't be able to focus on what she had to tell him. And, as long as Baku remained within Umiko's grasp, he could never rest. This she knew without needing to be told. It was one of the reasons the Master had assigned her to Ranma's side.

Ranma nodded once and flickered from view. Mihama followed. Finally, Ayumu allowed herself to slump to the ground and relax, gathering her strength for what was to come.

Ranma flickered back into existence on the salvaged warship's bridge, and immediately stepped back at the sight of the blood on the walls, consoles, monitors, floors, even the ceiling held splatters of congealing liquid. Natsumi's wounds had not yet healed, blood still welling in the cuts and bruises purpling across her exposed skin. Yet, she said nothing, gave no reaction. Ranma's rapid check of the environment revealed her shattered VR helmet, lying some distance from her broken body. He pointed at it wordlessly, and Mihama flickered into view to pick it up. She cradled it to her small body as she turned to look at Ranma as he crouched down to take Natsumi's hand almost tenderly.

Then, it was almost as if they were both somewhere else –

It was sunset on the beach when Ranma looked around, the oblate globe of the sun melting out into the clouds and horizon. There was no one on this beautiful beach – warm golden sand, a few trees, grass and rocks leading away behind him and gentle waves of water further down.

He wasn't sure when he first became aware of someone sitting on the beach, but he walked to the figure, and sat beside her.

Natsumi watched the setting sun with a wistful look on her face, no visor or helmet to be seen.

"Where are we?" Ranma asked.

"Where I grew up," Natsumi replied. "My family's island." The sun sank a little lower in the sky, almost kissing the horizon now. "I felt I should be here at the end."

Ranma shook his head. "You're not gonna die here, not today."

"Everything dies sometime, Ranma." Natsumi's eyes continued to stay locked on the setting sun. "I've done my part in this war. I fought and I fought and I fought, and what for? I've been used, used and abused. And now..."

"I owe you my gratitude. And more," Ranma reminded her. "For the island. For Battle Royale. Covering for me. For everything."

Her eyes glistened. "And at the end, you remind me of everything I failed at."

"You haven't failed at anything!"

"No, but I have." She sniffed, and rubbed at her eyes with her forearm. "I failed you. I failed Kaname. I failed Sakaki. I tried to save them, I really did."

"I know," Ranma replied, reaching out hesitantly and wrapping his arm around the young girl's shoulders, pulling her close. She rested her head on his chest, watching the sun sink down. "And you didn't fail. Failing means you gave up. It means you didn't try again. And I know you've been trying, so very hard. I know. I see all the little reports. I see the monitors flash on and off and I know you've run interference between us and Umiko."

"I can't do that anymore," Natsumi admitted. "My time is just about over."

"No, it's really not," Ranma answered, determined to make Natsumi hear the steel in his voice. "You're not gonna die. Not here, not today."

Natsumi pulled away from Ranma, got to her feet and ran lightly to the water's edge, giggling childishly as she splashed in the warm tropical waters. He watched her, and eventually she stopped and looked back out to sea. "Everyone dies," she repeated. "But you've forgotten the nature of power. If I can impart one thing to you, only one, it's that the power you are playing with is not the sort to be taken lightly."

"I know that," Ranma said, getting to his feet and dusting the sand off the back of his pants as he joined her at the water's edge.

"No," she continued, "you don't. You think you know about how the power corrupts you, and yet you still think the best way to win a war is by fighting it."

"There's no other way to win a war," Ranma countered. He frowned. Was there? He'd been raised to fight, fight for himself and those closest to him, to get what he wanted as well as get by in life. Selfish reasons to fight. He had grown as a man to fight for the honour and integrity of others, but still had his childish, selfish streak and let himself be led into fights for the wrong reasons, but he thought he was beyond that now. For some reason, the image of Hotaru flashed into his mind.

"There is," Natsumi said sadly. She looked down and tangled her fingers in Ranma's before looking up. "I thought I would have such a beautiful life. I thought I would breeze through school, get a great job and make lots of money, then marry the love of my life and we would have beautiful crazy adventures together for the rest of our lives." She looked back out to sea, where the sun had almost slipped beneath the waves. "But that won't happen now."

Ranma shook his head definitively. "You're not dying. I'll take you to someone for help."

"Hotaru? She was nice. Very guarded around me, but understandably so." She paused, then placed a hand on Ranma's chest. "But you have to let me go."

"What point is the power of a god if I can't save the people closest to me?"

"I killed people."

"That other side of you killed people. And so you pay for that with the rest of your life. Dedicate yourself to redeeming yourself and work to make up for those losses. It sounds easy, but the easy way out is letting yourself die and not dealing with the consequences."

"Why do you believe I can be redeemed?"

Ranma thought of Usagi and her friends, people he thought of as very close to him. Yes, even Usagi, the idiot who complained about him, argued about him, probably hated him right now but that he knew deep down loved and appreciated him and what he did for her friends. Deep in his chest, he felt an indescribable sadness. "I have to believe it can be done."

Natsumi turned her gaze to his again, and held it for long moments. Then, just before the sun winked out completely, she nodded, and time sped up again.

Ranma grabbed Mihama's hand and held it tight to Natsumi's. He glared up at his very junior Lieutenant. "Take her where Takino took Sakaki. Hotaru will know what to do."

Behind him, Ranma felt a presence flicker into being as a humanised Umiko teleported into the command centre. "Oh," she said as Mihama disappeared. "Here you are. At the source of all the problems in this world." She threw a contemptuous glance at where Natsumi had recently lain.

Ranma pulled himself to his feet, feeling loose and disconnected. "Why? Why are you doing this? We both work for Yoshihiro! We're both working –"

"I work for the Master! I care for him! I look after his every need."

"Uh..." Ranma scratched the back of his head, turning his face slightly away from Umiko but keeping her within his field of vision. "Are you insecure or something?"

Umiko pulled back in surprise, a hand fluttering to her chest. "Me? Insecure? Why ever do you think that?"

"It's just you really seem to be worked up over this whole you 'n Yoshihiro thing and –"

"He is The Master!"

"And I know you and Yoshihiro had the whole thing going when he was young, but that time's long past, and he can make his own mind up about stuff now," Ranma continued as if Umiko hadn't interrupted him. He was reminded of the times he'd seen Yoshihiro agonising over basic decisions, but decided not to bring that up. All he was doing was delaying Umiko from following his troops, buying them time. And while his father had trained him that running away until you could regroup and prepare a proper response was the first thing a Saotome should do, this one time he'd have to ignore his father's meagre teachings and stand his ground.

He already knew Umiko was stronger than he could reach at the moment without transforming into Sailor Ceres and using that as a basis to further charge his batteries, but he'd fought Sailor Saturn to a standstill unenhanced, so he knew if he pulled out all his barriers, all his stops, he would probably just pull up short of Umiko's power level, and the rest he could make up through pure skill and speed.

"Anyone'd think you're insecure. All the cool monsters think so."

Umiko's eyes narrowed in annoyance, and she hissed at him. He flinched as she growled back at him. "I am not insecure. I am not in the habit of trying to please the Master, I just do."

"Ooooh," Ranma nodded his understanding. "Sorry, I was wrong. You want to replace him."

She blinked in surprise. Did she? No, Ranma was just trying to confuse her. She rolled her head to one side, hearing her neck pop, then back the other way, stretching before fighting. "There will be no more lies from your mouth. There will be no more obstructions from you. This day will see you dead, and the Master's plans will continue unhindered."

"How do you speak so clearly through all those sharp teeth?" Ranma asked, leaning forward for a better look. She snapped her jaws at him, and he stood back up. "Huh. It's like you're just so weird. I don't know how ya work at all. You're a lizard cat? Is that right? Like long strolls on the kitty litter tray? Can't say I've seen you in the sun, though. Do you bask in front of the fusion furnace, then?"

Umiko flexed her fingers, and massive claws burst forth. "Keep speaking, traitor, and I'll fillet you slowly instead of quick."

"Why do you call me a traitor when I'm the one doing what the Master wants," Ranma asked, "and you keep trying to sabotage those activities?"

"Whatever you think, you are not one of us," Umiko spat at him. "You are one of them. I can smell the senshi stench on you. You see them when you are not here. You fight for them. You ruin our chances of taking this world!"

"I'm not trying to do any of that," Ranma pointed out. "I am trying ta end this stupid war by making you all live in peace." And that would involve talking, he realised. The image of Hotaru he'd had earlier came to him again. Of course, he was a stupid idiot. Sometimes, talking was all it took. And once people had talked, they could move on like adults.

"There will be peace – when the Dark Kingdom rules all that exists in this realm!"

"Listen to ya! And you're not even from the Dark Kingdom."

Umiko transformed in an instant and sprang for Ranma to shut him up. He managed to dodge to the side, although her claws caught part of his torn uniform and ripped it further across his chest. A flap hung down when he stopped, and he pulled the jacket and shirt off to stop it from interfering.

He hadn't been expecting Umiko to move at him that fast; he'd thought they'd go around a few more times. He hadn't yet managed to gather all the power he'd need to fight with.

"You think I'm stupid?" Umiko hissed at him as she spun around and readied to leap again. "I can feel you drawing power to yourself. I can feel you ready to make the first attack! I will not let you."

Ranma shook his head. "Believe me, I don't wanna do this, but the way you're talking it was looking like it would happen anyway." He closed his hands into fists, sinking power into them as she leapt at him. He anchored himself to the decking through his feet, and began punching with the force of a pile driver as she hit him. He wasn't knocked back but felt the air rush backwards from him from the force of her movement into him and the impact his fists had on her chest. Umiki gave as little ground as he did, and after a few moments punching each other in a vacuum, they each leapt backwards to take a breath and start again. Their punches sang out like bells.

Umiko charged her fist and sent it sailing through Ranma's defences. He cursed as he took the punch on the jaw, throwing him backwards out the wall behind him. He tumbled through the air to hit the rock wall opposite the grounded starship and dropped to the ground far below. Ranma pulled himself to his feet and shook the pain off as best he could before Umiko could reach him. She wasn't slipping through space, he noted, but was instead drifting through the air towards him with an arrogant smirk on her face. Shock value, he realised, trying to psyche him out and encourage any monsters watching to lose faith in him. He wasn't going to be able to speak through his jaw for a few minutes, but focussed his power to act as if his body were whole and uninjured – that would begin an aggressive healing throughout his body, if he did take injury.

Her feet touched the ground, and she paused before springing towards him, mouth and eyes wide open in expectant delight. Ranma brought his arms up and blocked her initial pounce, rolling over onto his back as her momentum continued drawing her forward, and planted a foot in her gut to help her on her way. She looked surprised before she hit the wall, the additional force provided by Ranma burying her half into it. Rock exploded away as she charged her body and came at him again.

He felt light in his head at the sight of her – fully transformed, she looked like nothing more than a giant cat.

Certainly larger than any tiger.

But he had to keep it together. Even using the Cat Fist technique wasn't guaranteed to get him out of this spot, he needed his wits about him to flee when the moment was right. He was aware of the presences of his lieutenants flickering in and out around the base – so far Umiko hadn't seemed to notice. She came at him again, claws outstretched, teeth on the tip of her tail gnashing and snapping to get hold of him. Ranma managed to twist to the side, but one of her back feet raked his side.

Lieutenants still gathering troops and supplies. Jumping in and out of the base. Ranma's head still spun when he caught sight of Umiko, and he could feel a sensation in his head similar to the tearing of clothing. He fought it back down, leaving himself open to another wild blow that pummelled him back into the wall. From there, he dropped to the ground.

Ranma pushed himself up out of the small crater he'd dug upon impact. Umiko dropped to the ground before him, rising up onto two legs. Her knees clicked as they regained their normal orientation before stalking forward with a low hiss.

The impact to his head had seemed to clear it, and Ranma powered forward, pushing backwards with all the energy he had. He flew into her stomach like a missile, breath erupting from Umiko's mouth as he winded her. From there, he planted his hands in the floor, and used his momentum to flip over, delivering a double-kick to Umiko's gut. She bounced backwards into one of the unfinished Terrorhawks.

With a groan of stressed metal, Umiko pushed her way back into the cavern. As she dropped to the ground, the Terrorhawk shuddered again. Ranma saw the eyes, mighty windows surrounding the upper structure, light up as the machine woke. "Awww no!" He changed his attention from Umiko to the Cybrid defence platform that powered the mighty vehicle, intending to punch through its braincase and disable it but the Terrorhawk blinked and was gone.

Around the massive hangar, monsters put down tools as the other Terrorhawks came online, beginning abbreviated start-up sequences and launching to reality from this pocket dimension. The last to leave lifted from its rest just under the hyperengines of the Night's Pride, the massive Dark Kingdom warship that had been cannibalised to build the base.

The warship whose engines were the only thing keeping the base isolated in otherdimensional space.

The partially-completed Terrorhawk – NightHawk, Ranma realised in a distant part of his mind – kept rising, tearing through the armoured housing of the engines. Space groaned as the energies holding it apart from reality began to shift and warp. Cracks spread out through the base, packets of unreality bleeding through. Monsters caught unprepared were sucked into never existing.

Throughout the base, Ranma felt the subtle shifting of power as the hierarchy slipgated out to fallback positions. Yoshihiro's presence held on for a moment longer, then flickered from Ranma's sense.

A moment after the Master had vanished, Umiko lifted her head, aware something was going terribly wrong. Ranma threw her a two-fingered salute as he felt the last of his troops vanish from the base, and then he was gone as well.

Umiko howled in anger and frustration as the base collapsed around her.

Ranma dropped to the ground on the outskirts of Tokyo. Well, that could have gone better.

He could have travelled to see the senshi, but right now he suspected he was not their favourite person. As Mihama and Takino dropped back in around him, he noticed Ayumu watching from a nearby bench in a bus shelter.

"You said Umiko had done this before, when she attacked Natsumi the first time," Ranma called out as he walked towards her. She nodded. "Except the first time was at Yoshihiro's orders, wasn't it?"

"The Master is incapable of making decisions that powerful," Mihama said from behind Ranma. He turned.

"I know he has trouble making big decisions –"

"He cannot make decisions," Mihama repeated.

"I've seen him. He's indecisive. He doesn't know which is the best decision to make, so he can't make any."

Mihama shook her head. "You don't understand. The Master cannot make decisions. He is too young. He merely parrots what his mother says to him."

Ranma stared. He turned back to face Ayumu, who nodded.

"The mother makes his decisions. Everything he does, everything he says, she controls, she manipulates. It might look otherwise but he does not know how to do anything."

Hotaru. The attacks. Rozen's dolls. Natsumi. Tokyo. Kaname. Was this all something set off by Umiko? "I can't believe that. He has to have some say –"

"Ranma," Takino interrupted. "He's a baby."

"I know he's young – we saw him early on – but –"

Takino shook her head. "He's really a baby. He was a newborn the day he was changed."

"The day the hospital was destroyed..."

"The reason the hospital was destroyed. He changed Umiko as he was born."

Ranma stared. "I knew she was the first of his monsters, but..."

"She was his nurse. Taking him to the morgue. She thought he was dead, but he was changing and he killed her and then brought her back."

"Umiko kind of went crazy," Ayumu added.

"Umiko was always kind of crazy," Mihama offered. "And now she's in control of everything, all the time."

"Then why was I there?"

"The Master did make one choice," Ayumu offered.

"Me," Ranma realised. A chance to make a choice of his own. A chance to have someone else show him ways things could be done. "He wanted to know another way."

The three girls looked at one another uneasily. "Not quite," Mihama said after a few moments.

"Not at all," Takino offered.

"We think he wanted a father," Ayumu concluded.

At the Ai Sou, the senshi feverishly worked to drag wounded monsters inside from the front steps where they had been left. One of the girls had been handed over with the cryptic comment that "she likes cats," but otherwise monsters had dropped in, handed over the wounded, and gone again.

"They know where we live!" Usagi yelled at the top of her lungs.

"I think it's Ranma," Hotaru said quietly, where she worked on healing Natsumi as best she could. The younger girl was unconscious and heavily injured. "They should see a hospital."

The tall monster who liked cats grabbed at Hotaru's arm and gave a single serious shake of her head before falling back. Hotaru held her gaze for a few moments before nodding at her and returning her focus to Natsumi. Once she was sure the former Dark General was stable, she moved on to the tall monster.

Mitsuki leaned back from the television. "Everyone! Quieten down. Something's going on in Tokyo!"

Usagi and MInako followed her to the television, where a shaky news camera showed multiple of Ranma's manufactured giant monsters descending on the city. "We've got to do something," Mitsuki said.

Usagi's eyes narrowed, and she started to turn to the foyer and the injured monsters again but Mitsuki reached out and grabbed her arm. She swivelled Usagi back to face her directly. "We have to do something," she repeated.

"Okay, okay," Usagi sighed. "But do we have giant robots yet?"

The short answer was no.

Kaolla Su was very apologetic as she showed off the giant robots she'd produced. As requested by Hotaru, they were giant animals in the forms of an eagle, an elephant, a tiger, a rhinoceros and a kangaroo, and they could indeed move around under pilot direction independently. The problem came when they tried to combine. Kaolla set the vehicles off, and they started coming together but with a grinding noise they stopped.

"They're all too different to work together," Kaolla explained. "Now, if they were all turtles, this wouldn't have been a problem!"

Chao stood behind Hotaru, looking thoughtful as she leaned forward and whispered in the shorter senshi's ear. Hotaru listening intently before nodding. "That could also work. Kaolla, how spacious are the insides of the robots?"

A short time later, AirHawk dived for the city with talons outstretched. Looking like a giant metallic eagle, it was missing plating on its topside – but the JSSDF jets that buzzed around it over Tokyo were unable to draw a line to the target for long before it would juke to one side or the other and the moment was lost.

Additionally, it had the ability to stop and turn almost on the spot, and had downed several fighters already.

The ground forces weren't having much better luck with rampaging centipede-like GroundHawks burrowing through the CBD. Self Defence Force tanks backed up and rotated their turrets to fire, but as they stopped to line up a shot smaller man-sized monsters would swarm them and begin tearing the tank to pieces. Only a handful of shells had been fired – most had gone wide. Two crews had already been lost to the monsters, and the ground forces were having no luck bringing down the monsters with their rifles – and were unable to even gain the attention of the much larger and more armoured Terrorhawks.

Strangely, some of the monsters seemed to be fighting amongst themselves.

And so, five people stepped to the edge of a building. Something about them – their confident stance, the sun glinting off coloured uniforms, possibly the small swords they held in their hands – caused the battlefield to fall silent.

JSSDF soldiers, monsters and civilians alike stopped their fighting and running to turn and face these people.

One by one, they flipped forward, somersaulting to the ground. As they landed, they struck a pose and shouted their names for all to hear even as people took in the stylised helmets and padded lycra bodysuits.

"Venus Red!"

"Venus Black!"

"Venus Yellow!"

"Venus Blue!"

"... venus pink..."

"You have one chance to surrender!" Venus Red yelled, pointing her sword at the largest of the nearest Dark Kingdom monsters. "Only one chance! And then we shall deal with you for the cause of justice!"

The monster looked back at Venus Red blankly. "Uh... You probably want to speak with Kenji," he said, looking around. "He's kind of in charge here..."

"Only the one chance!" Venus Red said, shifting her attention to another monster, who pointed at a third.

The third looked around. "Um. I can't make that call, guys."

"They're not surrendering, Venus Red."

"I see that, Venus Yellow."

"We have to fight them."

"Who's leading this team, Venus Yellow?"

Venus Yellow rolled her head in an exaggerated motion.

"I am," Venus Pink supplied, leaning forward to look down the line, throwing her arms out wide. Venus Black slapped her glove to her face and groaned.

"If you won't surrender," Venus Red yelled, trying to speak over the others with some dignity, "then we must defeat you. Venus Five," and she stopped a moment to glare at a giggling Venus Blue, "let's go to work and wipe these monsters out."

As one, they nodded, saluted their enemy with a tap of their swords to their helmets, and the Venus Five charged into battle.

TO BE CONTINUED...

SAILOR MOON SAYS...

This one took a long time. There have been reasons, mostly RL. I am sorry, and must say that updates in the future may be sporadic. I am hoping it won't be a stupidly long time between updates as this one was! But Justice will be finished, one way or another.

Next chapter – the Venus Five strike back to save Tokyo. And the war of monsters continues.